The Red Wings don't expect Valtteri Filppula to return from his broken wrist until the end of December at the earliest, but he reached a major milestone marker in his recovery on Tuesday, when he finally ditched the hard cast he'd been wearing for the past six weeks, and he reiterated his happiness in getting back to work to the Macomb Daily's Bruce MacLeod:

December 9, Macomb Daily: Valtteri Filppula, who has been out since Oct. 29 with a broken wrist,
is without a hard cast now. Filppula skated after Tuesday's practice at
Joe Louis Arena, using a removable cast as extra protection.

"I'm
really happy to get the cast off," said Filppula. "It's getting slowly
better. I'm getting my strength back too. It's going to take a while,
but hopefully not too long."

MLive.com's own Ansar Khan also noted the development:

December 9, MLive.com: Filppula had the
cast removed from his broken right wrist Sunday. He wore a splint while
skating by himself Tuesday after practice. He will start skating more
and remains on schedule to return later this month.

“I’ll try to get
the movement back slowly, get the strength back; it’s going to take a
while, but hopefully not too long,” Filppula said. “It’s really stiff,
so I have to be patient with it.”